18 Oct 2023
The latest step in Luton Airport’s further expansion has been rubber-stamped by Government ministers.
The Secretaries of State for Transport and for Levelling up, Housing and Communities have approved plans to increase numbers by one million a year – from 18m to 19m – but campaigners fear this is the start of a slippery slope towards a higher target of 32m.
However, the airport has been told it must abide by the existing Noise Management Plan, and before any further expansion is approved it must provide a strategy to reduce its long-term noise footprint, a transport plan and a carbon reduction strategy.
Campaign group LADACAN said there were significant imbalances in the decision which seem to favour the airport over the local community.
“The Inspectors refer to the noise conditions being breached due to increased demand and modernisation of the fleet not having kept up with that – but didn’t highlight the need to keep the two in balance, and ignored the clear evidence of the financial incentivisation for faster-than-balanced growth which continued even after a breach was forecast.
“We showed that there were errors in the data feeding the airport’s noise contour model, which would have affected the assessment, but the Inspectors felt unable to accept this because we did not have an alternative model – even though it’s impossible to set one up without full access to all the relevant data which the airport keeps to itself.
“The decision effectively weighed in the balance a few hundred extra jobs versus a few hundred extra people subject to more noise and health harms, and decided the jobs won because of the high deprivation (which may be because the income from the airport has been spent on vanity projects rather than on reducing deprivation in Luton).”
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper responded: “The government’s decision is a slap in the face for local communities who are concerned by the climate emergency and plagued by aircraft noise and pollution.
“Luton Airport, supported by Luton Borough Council, made this application retrospectively because they’d already breached the legal noise and passenger limits in 2019, and wanted approval to press on and keep doing so.
“The decision by the Conservative Secretaries of State acknowledges that there will be more emissions from aircraft and ground transport, and that air quality will be adversely impacted as a result of this expansion, but they’ve given Luton the green light to go ahead anyway.
“The government also continues to rely on hopes that airlines might one day use quieter aircraft, to minimise the disruption to those in the flight paths whose daily lives are blighted by the din, especially in north St Albans.
“However, claims by Luton Airport and the operators that they’re moving to quieter aircraft have been thoroughly debunked by the monitoring by groups such as LADADCAN and STAQS; if anything, the new models might even be noisier.
“With the Prime Minister seemingly abandoning advice from the Climate Change Committee to halt net airport expansion, and his Ministers ramming through expansion after expansion, this Conservative government really is just turning its back on the climate emergency.”
Harpenden Tory candidate Nigel Gardner says he disagrees with his party’s approach to the airport: “‘I remember when I was growing up in Flamstead, a few miles from Luton Airport, my parents used to complain about the noise from the planes.
“That was long before the days of Ryanair and Easyjet. Now it’s far, far worse.
“The growth of Luton Airport to a proposed 32 million passengers fills me with horror. We don’t want the equivalent of Gatwick on our doorsteps, so I’m against the expansion of Luton Airport.
“I certainly don’t want to see small increments legitimising further expansions.
“The Inspectors’ Report for the one million increase is very far from a ringing endorsement of Luton Airport’s plans. It sets out serious concerns about the airport’s noise reduction plans and traffic management plans – even for the expansion by one million.
“I will be watching very carefully to see if Luton Airport does what the Inspectors have told it to do.”
Also reacting to the decision was Victoria Collins, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Harpenden and Berkhamsted.
She said: “On Luton Airport’s doorstep, residents from Harpenden, Wheathampstead, Redbourn, Flamstead and Markyate are extremely concerned about the Luton airport expansion. They’re worried about climate change, the strain on our local infrastructure and plagued by aircraft noise. The Conservative government’s decision to allow this expansion of passenger numbers at Luton airport is an insult to our impacted local communities.”
“The current MP of Harpenden himself, Bim Afolami, admits that Luton Airport expansion would have ’a detrimental impact on local transport networks and increase air and noise pollution’ and yet has failed to stand up to his party for local people.
“This expansion has shifted the goalpost for the further proposed expansion to 32 million and flies in the face of climate change committee advice. With the Prime Minister turning his back on the environment and ministers pushing through airport expansion we cannot trust this government to tackle the climate crisis or stand up for local communities.”
Luton Rising has been contacted for comment.
